Wow. She'd love to hear a conversation in Atlantean. The words were odd, but there was a wonderful lyrical quality to the language that was extremely musical.
But she had much more important things to think about than a long-dead language. Such as evicting the demon from her house. She just hoped he didn't have any friends who wanted to come and party in her living room while using her and Alexion as pogo sticks. "Do you think there are any more of them?"
"I don't know. I thought Simi was the last of them. It's what Acheron was told and it's what he told me. Apparently someone lied."
"Simi? The imaginary friend you've been talking to is one of those scaly, nasty things?"
"No," he said in an offended tone. "Simi's precious. She's beautiful..." He paused before adding, "In a very demon kind of way."
"Yeah," she said, her voice laden with incredulity. "Does she slam your head against the floor too?"
"Not intentionally... much. She just forgets how strong she is sometimes."
"Uh-huh. I think she damaged your brain one of the times she slammed your head."
He glared menacingly at her, and when he spoke, his tone was defensive and angry. "Simi is like a daughter to me, so I expect you to show some respect when you talk about her."
She held her hands up in mock surrender. "Fine, if you want to claim a scaly demon as a daughter, that's your business. In the meantime, any idea on how to kill one of those?"
He shook his head. "The only way I know to kill one is to use an Atlantean dagger."
"Where do we find one of those?"
His grip tightened on the wheel as he drove. "We don't. Acheron destroyed them all to make sure no one could hurt Simi."
"Well, that was mighty insightful of him, Yorick. What about the other demons who want to play basketball with your skull? Didn't he ever think he should keep a dagger handy, just in case?"
"It wasn't worth the risk to him of someone hurting Simi. Besides, Acheron can kill them without a dagger."
Well, that would be helpful if Acheron were here, but as it stood... "Lucille certainly picked a fine time to leave us, didn't he? I just wish our only problem was four hungry children and a crop in the field."
Alexion slowed the car as he turned his head to grimace at her. "You know, your sarcasm isn't helping any more than your bizarre and scattered references to literature and bad country songs."
"Not true, it's helping me maintain a calm façade that I most definitely do not feel."
"Well, it's starting to piss me off."
"Ooo," she breathed, "you almost scare me when you say that."
He growled at her as he whipped the car onto the highway that led toward Aberdeen.
"Where have you decided to take us?"
"I'm here to see Kyros so I figure there's no time like the present."
She supposed, but there was one important fact he was overlooking. "Kyros is most likely going to freak."
"Probably. I'm hoping to shock some sense into him." He glanced over at her. "You were telling me about Stryker before our rude demon interruption. Care to finish that discussion?"
Danger opened her glove box to pull out her pack of travel tissues. She grabbed two, then gently used them to blot the blood that was still around Alexion's nose.
He gave her an odd frown before he took the tissue himself to wipe his face clean. There was something almost boyishly charming about the way he moved. It amazed her that he'd taken such a beating and sucked it up without a single complaint.
No matter what he said, it had to hurt badly.
Feeling for him, she ran her hand through his hair, brushing it back from his cheek. He didn't say anything, but the look on his face showed that he was touched by her tenderness.
Awkwardness consumed her. She dropped her hand away and returned to their conversation. "There's not much to tell," she said as she closed the glove box. "He showed up claiming to be Acheron's brother."
Alexion burst out laughing.
"Don't laugh," she said, offended that he was kind of laughing at her since she had briefly bought into the idea of them being related. "He's got the same black hair and swirling silver eyes like Ash does. Damned if he doesn't favor Acheron. A lot."
"No he doesn't. Trust me."
"Then why do they have the same eyes?"
"They don't. Their eyes are very different. Acheron was born with his. Stryker was given his after he scorned his father, Apollo."
She scowled. "How do you know that?"
He shrugged. "I live with a sfora, an orb that can tell me anything that happens here in the human realm. Not to mention, Simi is a font of information about what happens in Kalosis-the realm where-"
"Stryker is from. He mentioned that to me. So you're telling me that Ash isn't his brother?"
"Hell, no. Only in Stryker's dreams. Trust me." Alexion grew silent as he considered her words. He slid the tissue into his pocket as he continued to drive them down the dark highway. "So why is Stryker lying to Kyros? For that matter, what the hell is he even doing here? It's not like him to bother with something like this. He normally takes on Acheron directly."
She hoped that was rhetorical. "I don't know. But he has Kyros sold completely on the idea. For a time, he had me too."
Alexion let out a disgusted breath. "You didn't know better, but Kyros should." A muscle worked in his jaw while he kept his gaze focused on the road. "Well, whatever Stryker's up to, it's not good. And if he's the one unleashing and commanding that Charonte back there, we're in real trouble."
"You think?"
He shook his head. "Sarcasm aside, you have no idea how much power Stryker wields. You think I'm here to kill you? At least I take no joy in it. Stryker likes to torture people. Last time he was out of his hole, he had a Spathi Daimon possess a Dark-Hunter and they wreaked havoc all over New Orleans."
"What's a Spathi?" she asked. That was one term she'd never heard before.
"They're the ancient warrior class of Daimons who have been around for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. And in that time, they've learned to be seriously pissed off. Unlike the younger Daimons you're used to fighting, these guys don't run away. They run toward you."
"Oh, goodie. It just gets better and better. A ticked-off demigod, a demon, and now warrior Daimons out to possess and kill us. Anything else you need to warn me about?"
"Yeah. Can the sarcasm before I decide I don't need a guide after all."
Stryker glared at the Charonte who stood before him. He and Trates had been in the great hall of Kalosis, drinking Apollite blood from their goblets as they celebrated the demise of the Alexion.
At least until the demon had returned with news Stryker didn't want to hear. Trates had stepped back in expectation of Stryker's wrath, which was already simmering to a boil as he came to his feet to confront the demon.
"What do you mean, you let him go?"
Caradoc's pupils spiraled as they narrowed on Stryker. "Watch your tone with me, Daimon," he said in that strange singsongy accent that his kind held. "You are not fit for me to blow my nose on your weak tissue. I only agreed to this because you said you could liberate me from the goddess. You did not tell me that you were sending me after another of her kind."
Stryker went cold with those words. "What do you mean, another of her kind?"
"That was no man you sent me to, but rather something else. He spoke my language and he speaks Atlantean. He knew the command the Atlantean gods gave to mine to control us. No human knows those words. Only the gods do."
He scoffed at the demon. "The Alexion is not a god. Like you, he's only a servant."
"He did not speak as a servant," Caradoc argued. "Nor did he shatter as a human should have. I dealt him death blows and still he fought."
Stryker snarled at him, then stepped back as the demon moved toward him. Like it or not, he knew that if it came down to a fight, the Charonte would win.
"You didn't have to obey him. I promise you. He is not a god and is incapable of harming you."
Caradoc tilted his head as if digesting that. Finally, he shook his head. "I will not go for him again. The risk far outweighs the possible benefit. The goddess would kill me if I harmed one of her family. Even from here, she would hunt me down and assassinate my entire existence. Find another fool for your errand."
The demon tucked his wings around his body and walked arrogantly from the room.
Stryker cursed. He truly hated those things. They disgusted him even more than the humans did.
One day, he would destroy both races.
"What do we do now?" Trates asked.
"Fetch Xirena."
Trates laughed nervously at the command. "Xirena? Why? She's the fiercest of the Charontes. She barely takes direction from Apollymi, never mind one of us. I don't think anyone can control her."
Stryker smiled slowly. "I know. That's why I want her. She won't be afraid of a mere servant. She'll come back with his heart for me and she won't care what Apollymi thinks."